103rd Ballot

"e;A cool history of Democratic politics from the fall of Woodrow Wilson in 1920 to the rise of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932."e; -The New York TimesDivided over the contentious issues of Prohibition and the Ku Klux Klan, a fractured Democratic Party met in the summer of 1924 to elect a presidential nominee. With drastically opposing views between front-runners William Gibbs McAdoo of California and Governor Al Smith of New York, and the "e;favorite sons"e; candidates running without national support rigid division amongst the party led to the need for a 103rd ballot. Robert Keith Murray expertly captures the upheaval of the convention and the detrimental impact it had on the party long after a candidate had been officially selected. This riveting narrative and exceptional analysis provide a captivating look at one of the most controversial presidential conventions in American history, one that will highly resonate with readers given the state of political dissonance today. "e;Follows the course of the Democratic party through the low point in its history . . . engaging style and rich detail."e; Political Science Quarterly"e;The book is, and the period was, filled with the ironies and touches that make politics fun, funny and appalling."e; The New York Times